<b>Archives International, May 23:</b> National Banknote Assortment of Original 1st Charter, Plain Back and Date Back Issues. Lot of 6 notes, Includes Pennsylvania Nationals, First National Bank of Selins Grove, 1865, $1… $3,200 to $4,400

<b>Sotheby’s Paris, May 24:</b> JESUITS. <i>Relation de ce qui s’est passé en la Nouvelle France en 1635</i> […] 1672. Period calf binding. Very rare set of letters about life in the French territories among warring Indian tribes. 12,000-18,000 €

<b>ALDE, May 30:</b> BRETON (André). <i>Arcane 17.</i> New York, Brentano's, 1944. One of the 25 first copies with the original etching signed by Roberto Matta. 6000 to 8000 €

<b>ALDE, May 30:</b> HÉRON DE VILLEFOSSE (René). <i>La Rivière enchantée.</i> Paris, Bernard Klein, 1951. One of the 25 first copies on japon with an original watercolored drawing signed by Léonard Foujita. 60,000 to 80,000 €

Rare Book Monthly

Manuscript, Printed and Visual Americana from Ian Brabner, Bookseller

- by Michael Stillman

Americana from Ian Brabner.

IanBrabner,Bookseller, of Wilmington, Delaware, has published Catalogue13,Manuscripts&Printed&VisualAmericana. There is quite a variety of material here, from books, broadsides, and other printed documents, to manuscript letters and personal accounts of important events, to photographs, advertising material, cartoons, business cards, unpublished typescripts, and even more ephemeral items such as document pouches. This is a fascinating mix of material and anyone who collects Americana will much enjoy this catalogue. These are a few of the items that are being offered.

Would you like to purchase Lincoln's log cabin? You could have, once upon a time, and it wasn't all that expensive. Item 34 is a 1905 broadside announcing, Commissioner'sSALE!OftheAbrahamLincolnBirthplace. The 110.5 acre farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky, was being sold on August 28, 1905, to satisfy a bankruptcy debt. The winning bid was $3,600, placed by Richard Collier of Collier'sWeekly. He founded the Lincoln Farm Association to preserve the home and property, which is now managed by the National Park Service. Priced at $650.

Preserving Lincoln's cabin brought donations from all over the country to Collier's Lincoln Farm Association. Here is another American monument that brought in much support from America, and France too. Item 13 is a certificate for the SubscriptionfortheBuildingofaCommemorativeMonumentoftheCentennialAnniversaryofUnitedStatesIndependance[sic]ErectedinRemembranceoftheAncientFriendshipofFranceandAmerica. That monument was to be called Liberty Enlightening the World, though we know it now simply as the Statue of Liberty. France was paying for the statue, but Americans needed to contribute to build the base on which it stands. The 1875 certificate features an image of how the completed statue would look in New York harbor, along with images of Washington, Lafayette, and Rochambeau. America and France have had their differences at times, but as the certificate notes, with this gift to America, “...we consolidated by an eternal remembrance, the friendship which has been sealed by the blood of both people's forefathers.” $6,500.

Item 86 is a group of advertising leaflets and other material pertaining to the Fairy Sisters. The Fairy Sisters were Catherine (“Cassie”) and Victoria Foster, then about the ages of 8 and 2. They played music, but it wasn't their musical talents that brought the crowds to see them. It was their size. They were very small, “midgets” in the vernacular of the day, or “Lilliputian” as one of the circulars describes them. For 25 cents, you could gawk. Their parents discovered the girls were a good source of income, and put them on tour in 1872-1873. However, their health was not good, and Cassie died at age 10, Victoria at 3. Don't feel too badly for their parents losing out on their livelihood. In 1877, they had a similarly small boy, who would go on display during the next decade, and lived to be 17. $350.

Item 12 is the handwritten personal Revolutionary War journal of Elijah Porter. Porter served in General Israel Putnam's Connecticut division under George Washington. He served from May 1777 through May 1780 and witnessed many important events of the revolution. Early on, he writes of having to help hold down a British officer about to be shot for spying. At the last second, he had to jump out of the way. Porter writes movingly of General Washington walking through deep snows during the harsh winter of 1779-80 in Morristown, New Jersey, expressing his deep concern to each soldier over the terrible conditions they had to endure, and working hard to find additional food for them. Numerous notable personalities from the war make their way into Porter's pages, including General Anthony Wayne, “Barren Stuben (Baron von Steuben) the Old Prussian Drummer,” and the “Hored Trayter Arnold.” The account is dated 1841 and comes from Farmington, Connecticut. While we cannot be positive, it seems highly likely that this is the Elijah Porter who served as a Deacon in the local Congregational Church and was the first librarian in Farmington. He had created some notes about his experiences in the war that were read at the library in the late 19th century (perhaps these?), and he died in 1845 at the age of 84, correct timing for this account and for having served in the Revolution. $42,500.

<b>19th Century Shop:</b> Charles Darwin on sexuality and the transmission of hereditary characteristics: Autograph Letter Signed to Lawson Tait. Down, 17 January [1877].

<b>19th Century Shop:</b> MILTON, JOHN. <i>Paradise Lost. A Poem written in ten books.</i> London: 1667. A very rare example with the contemporary binding untouched and with a 1667 title page.

<b>19th Century Shop:</b> Hamilton secures the ratification of the Constitution: <i>The Debates and Proceedings of the Convention of the State of New-York, assembled at Poughkeespsie, on the 17th June, 1788.</i>

<b>19th Century Shop:</b> The social contract “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains”: ROUSSEAU, JEAN-JACQUES. <i>Principes du Droit Politique [Du Contract Social]</i>. Amsterdam: Michel Rey, 1762

<b>19th Century Shop:</b> “The first English textbook on geometrical land-measurement and surveying”: BENESE, RICHARD. <i>This Boke Sheweth the Maner of Measurynge All Maner of Lande…</i>

<b>Forum Auctions: Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper. May 31, 2018</b>

<b>Forum Auctions, May 31:</b> Simcoe (John Graves). Plan of the Province of Upper Canada with part of the Adjacent Countries, manuscript map… with numerous contemporary annotations. £6,000 to £8,000

<b>Forum Auctions: Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper. May 31, 2018</b>

<b>Forum Auctions, May 31:</b> Book of Hours. Hours of the Virgin [Use of Rome] in Latin, miniature illuminated manuscript on vellum with 6 full-page miniatures and 6 large initials with borders, Flanders, [2nd quarter of 15th century]. £6,000 to £8,000

<b>Forum Auctions, May 31:</b> Pasternak (Boris). <i>Doktor Zhivago</i> original typescript, 2 vol., with manuscript corrections and insertions by the author, the George Katkov copy, c.1956. £100,000 to £150,000

<b>Forum Auctions: Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper. May 31, 2018</b>

<b>Chiswick Auctions, May 30:</b> Ransome (Arthur). <i>Swallows and Amazons,</i> FIRST EDITION, ownership inscription to half title. Only 2,000 copies of the first edition printed. £3,000 to £4,000

<b>Chiswick Auctions, May 30:</b> Sewell (Anna). <i>Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions. The Autobiography of a Horse. Translated from the original Equine,</i> FIRST EDITION, engraved frontispiece. £3,000 to £4,000

<b>Chiswick Auctions, May 30:</b> Potter (Beatrix). <i>The Tale of Peter Rabbit,</i> FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING, limited to 250 copies [with] the FIRST PUBLISHED EDITION. £12,000 to £15,000

<b>Chiswick Auctions, May 30:</b> Wells (H. G.). <i>War of the Worlds,</i> original Danish manuscript, the text written out in block script ink, with over 620 original drawings in ink and watercolour. £1,800 to £2,200

<b>Chiswick Auctions, May 30:</b> Toulouse-Lautrec (Henri de).- Clemenceau (Georges). <i>Au Pied de Sinai,</i> NUMBER 104 OF 355 COPIES, with the suite of 10 lithographs by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 2 states. £1,500 to £2,000